Bridget Hayden and the Apparitions Cold Blows the Rain 180g LP

The reinterpreted traditional folk songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are shaped by the land and the weather. Wrapped in mist and drizzle, the crawling drone of low heavy clouds on flat-top moors. The sound of the dark Calder Valley floor and sun starved hills in West Yorkshire in the North of England.

Bridget Hayden is a soul who found a home among the hills of Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in for the classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about the wind and rain, fog and mist, how rare and treasured the breaks from it are. Her favorite thing to do in the valley, she says, is "to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine."

Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via the Todmorden-based label Basin Rock. Having hired the town's Oddfellow's Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of 2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recording when the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time.

The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for the sunlight. Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, they are led by Bridget's stirring and weather-beaten voice. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of The Apparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill).